Makes: 10 portions. Preparation time: 1 hour.
Ingredients:
— 500 grams cooked meat
— 2 dl cool Chicken or Veal Velouté
— 2 dl melted aspic jelly
— 3 dl lightly whipped cream
— salt, pepper and nutmeg
— 1 dl melted aspic jelly (coating)
Method:
(1) Finely mince the meat and pass through a sieve.
(2) Place the mixture in a basin and add the cool veiouté and melted aspic jelly, stirring with a wooden spatula.
(3) Place the mixture on ice and continue to stir until it shows signs of beginning to set. Fold in the lightly beaten whipped cream and season to taste.
(4) Pour the setting mixture into a suitable earthenware or glass dish and place into a refrigerator to set.
(5) Decorate as desired with cooked vegetables cut into neat shapes to form a pattern. Cover with a coating of melted aspic jelly and allow to set in a refrigerator.
Note:
Cold ham mousse and cold chicken mousse are made in this way. A little vegetable coloring may be added to cold ham mousse to give it more color.
Assessment of the completed dish
(1) The mousse should be of an even fine texture and just firm enough to allow it to set.
(2) It should be of a delicate flavor; the flavor of the aspic jelly should not be allowed to predominate.
(3) Decoration should be simple and neat.
Possible problem, cause and solution:
(1) Mixture lacks flavor and is dry:
— cream has been overwhipped; care must be taken to avoid this as it cannot be rectified.
(2) Mixture curdles when the cream is added to the purée appears broken or curdled or becomes lumpy:
— cream has been overwhipped; care must be taken to avoid this as it cannot be rectified.
— aspic jelly was too cold when added; ensure that the aspic jelly is warm when added or else it will set when it comes in contact with mixture giving rise to these problems which cannot be rectified.
(3) Mixture lacks volume:
— aspic was too hot when added; care must be taken to avoid this as it will soften the mixture and remove the air — this cannot be rectified.